A national survey conducted by a research institute revealed that most Americans believe that the major tech companies are biased. Also, Sen. Josh Hawley’s proposal to “regulate social media algorithms for political bias” was favored by both Republican and Democrat voters.
Echelon Insights conducted this national survey on more than 1000 random registered voters in the US to find out their opinions on a few pressing issues such as social media censorship, rising antitrust thinking, and regulation of social media algorithms.
“There has recently been some discussion of the idea that websites like Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter are politically biased and are suppressing views they disagree with. Do you consider this a problem?” read the question addressing social media bias.
59% of the voters believed that social media bias exists and that it is a problem. Among all the votes that were cast, 68% of Republicans, 61% of independents and 53% of Democrats believed that social media bias was a problem.
It can be understood that voters, both Democrats, and Republicans shared similar opinions when it came to social media bias.
Similarly, another question aimed at social media censorship revealed that the voters that share political content think platforms such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter are politically biased.
“There has recently been some discussion of the idea that websites like Facebook, YouTube, or Twitter are politically biased and are suppressing views they disagree with. Do you consider this a problem?” read the question addressing social media censorship.
Much like the previous question regarding social media bias, in this case, too, 59% of the registered voters expressed that they believe social media platforms censor and suppress the views they don’t agree with.
A simple overview of the answers to the question regarding social media censorship revealed that voters who shared political content on social media were the ones to find the censorship more problematic than the rest. It can be understood that the individuals actively posting about politics on social media are prone to the notice effects of censorship than the ones that don’t.
This study has strengthened the ever-increasing claims of social media censorship and bias. For a long time now, several conservatives have expressed that platforms such as Facebook and Instagram are censoring them exclusively. This study makes it clear that the voters and citizens of the US feel so too.
